At inewsource, we bring you in-depth, fact-based news coverage on issues impacting your communities every day.
Last year, we shared with you what our reporters were watching on their beats, putting a spotlight on a number of big developing stories across our region.
In 2025, we’ll continue that work with a laser focus on surfacing hyperlocal issues not typically covered by local media as well as much larger regional and national issues impacting communities across the San Diego and Imperial regions.
In the days ahead, reporters will publish stories detailing what they’re watching this year — from housing and homelessness to energy and the environment — providing the context you need to understand how we got here.
Look for the stories here:
Why SANDAG faces a bumpy road in 2025
From leadership changes to the loss of anticipated new funding, the region’s lead transportation and planning agency known as the San Diego Association of Governments faces yet another set of challenges this year.
What’s at stake
- County Supervisor Nora Vargas won’t serve another term as county supervisor, meaning SANDAG will get a new board chair.
- Voters’ rejection of Measure G also dealt a blow to the agency’s ambitious plans to expand public transit. A spokesperson said officials “must have important discussions about our funding priorities” in 2025.
Read the story
How $1B makeover will reshape Chula Vista’s bayfront
The massive redevelopment of Chula Vista’s bayfront, paid in part by the city and the Port of San Diego, will see its anchor project debut this summer.
The 1,600-room Gaylord Pacific Resort and Convention Center will open this year after nearly three years of construction. And the new 21-acre Sweetwater Park is expected to open in early 2025.
What’s at stake
- Redevelopment at Chula Vista’s bayfront will reshape what has been a largely industrial and underutilized area in one of San Diego’s fastest-growing cities.
- The new Gaylord resort is projected to create 4,000 permanent jobs and “an economic impact of half-a-billion dollars each year,” according to officials.
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How locals are fighting to shape SoCal’s Lithium Valley
Companies have been racing to develop the technology to extract lithium from the vast stores under the Salton Sea in recent years.
In Imperial Valley many hope the development of the industry will bring needed jobs to the region, but some also fear that the extraction of the resource might leave them with little to gain and with environmental impacts to bear.
What’s at stake
- The first commercial lithium project to break ground is still on hold after a community organization filed a lawsuit against Imperial County’s impact report. The lawsuit is pending, and locals expect a ruling any day. However, the company managing the project says the legal challenge has led to delays.
- Community organizations have consolidated under a new entity to fight for binding mitigations and community benefits from the lithium industry.
How courts, science and new leaders could shape Tijuana sewage crisis
Over the last few years border communities have weathered unprecedented flows of untreated wastewater that have inundated the Tijuana River Valley and flowed out into the Pacific Ocean.
What’s at stake
- Residents living near the Tijuana River Valley have suffered long-term exposure to gasses from sewage overflows. Local physicians blame the exposure for a number of health issues they’ve seen in patients young and old, but few studies have documented the long-term health impacts of exposure to the gasses. A number of studies will be published this year that will help us understand the breadth of the pollution.
- Congress approved additional funding for the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant renovations, which local officials and even the contractor running the plant say are long overdue. As renovations continue, another plant, the San Antonio de los Buenos treatment plant in Mexico, is expected to come online in January, helping to process millions of gallons of sewage a day.
How Trump’s deportation plans could impact San Diego
With Donald Trump’s return to the White House, we’ll watch how the president’s promise to carry out the largest deportation in U.S. history unfolds.
What’s at stake:
–Impact on U.S. residents and families. More than a half-million immigrants who came here as children have temporary legal status through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. Trump has suggested he would deport entire families including children who are U.S. citizens if they live here with undocumented parents.
–Impact on the economy. In California alone, nearly one in 10 workers are undocumented immigrants. Nationally, they’re estimated to contribute tens of billions of dollars in taxes.
–Impact on local law enforcement. A state law limits – but does not fully restrict – cooperation between the feds and local law enforcement for immigration purposes. That law and some local policies, are driving local clashes in communities over whether to support or resist deportations.
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How San Diego’s budget shortfall could stymie efforts to reduce homelessness
Entering his second term, San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria has pledged to complete his vision for addressing homelessness in the city. But a shelter crisis and a budget deficit pose serious challenges for moving unhoused residents off the streets. Meanwhile, rental housing costs in the communities across the county remain among the highest in the nation.
What’s at stake:
–Thousands of men, women and children bed down on San Diego’s sidewalks and in riverbeds and canyons every night.
–San Diego’s shelter system has reached capacity: Nearly 90% of all requests for shelter are denied.
–The city faces a $258 million budget shortfall, raising the level of scrutiny for any new shelter and services.
Type of Content
News: Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
